Exploring labour, employment and work issues in New Zealand

At a time of increasing
unemployment rates in New Zealand, researchers at Victoria
University are bringing together experts to discuss topical
employment issues and trends in Australasia.

Victoria’s Industrial Relations Centre, in partnership
with the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, will
host the fifteenth Conference on Labour, Employment and Work
in New Zealand in Wellington on 19—20 November.

Topical issues including youth unemployment and welfare,
labour market trends, wage subsidies and a living wage,
migration patterns of New Zealand graduates, and sexuality
and gender in the workplace will make up the two-day
programme.

Associate Professor Deborah Jones from
Victoria’s School of Management will chair a workshop
titled ‘Out at work: Sexual orientation and gender
minorities in the New Zealand workplace’.

Dr Jones
says that there is still very little research on gay,
lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and transgender (GLBTT)
workers’ experiences in New Zealand. “The purpose of
this panel is to make a positive contribution to a more
inclusive workplace for GLBTT employees by discussing their
experiences, and employer responses.”

Another
highlight will be the workshop ‘Beyond the ‘Hobbit
wars’: Work and workers in the New Zealand film
industry’, which draws on research into the experiences of
film industry workers, and involves researchers who have
looked more specifically at the dispute between the makers
of The Hobbit film and an actors' union in 2010.

The
final seminar focusing on workplace safety systems in New
Zealand is open to the public at no charge. Independent
Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety member Paul Mackay
will present an update of the work of the Taskforce,
followed by commentaries by David Feickert and Nicholas
Davidson QC, both of whom have been closely involved with
Pike River Royal Commission.

During the conference,
experts will discuss unemployment and underutilisation of
the labour force; internal and external migration; union
organising and collective voice in the workplace; and
occupational health and safety.

Many of the papers
being presented are the result of research in government
departments including the Ministry of Business, Innovation
and Employment, Treasury and Statistics New Zealand.

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